VOLUME 16, NUMBER 10
THE MONTH OF THE CELEBRATION DANCES
JULY 21, 1987.
Thousands brave grey skies to attend Treaty Rights Celebration
If the number of participants is anything to go by, the July 16 Hellgate Treaty Rights Celebration in Missoula was a resounding success!
Estimates are that around 238 cars joined the caravan to the celebration and close to 5,000 people of different races converged on the University of Montana campus under cloudy skies to hear from a dozen speakers, and enjoy buffalo burgers and Indian dancing, both as spectators and participants.
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Tribal Council vice-chairman Ron Therriault and former Council member Bearhead Swaney shared master-of-ceremony chores. Other local speakers were spiritual leaders Pat Pierre and Alec Lefthand.
Therriault opened the 5:30 p.m. event by explaining the reasons behind the celebration, which was long overdue, he said. Treaties are the highest laws of the land, he said, and in spite of the fact that the Hellgate Treaty isn't always followed to the letter, its underlying principals remain valid today, 132 years after its signing.
He then read statements of support and congratulations from a number of national and state officials: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congressman Pat Williams, Senator Max Baucus, and AFL-CIO president Jim Murray.
He also passed along "good wishes" from Yakima Tribal Chairman Phillip W. OIney and Missoula County Commissioner Janet Stevens, who along with her two fellow commissioners in a
written statement, proclaimed the day as "Treaty Rights Day".
Attending the celebration as speakers were: U of M president James Koch; Missoula city councilwoman 'Mike' Cregg; Montana Governor Ted Schwin-den; Yakima Nation Business Council members Hazel Umtouch and Walter Speedus; Blackfeet Council member Archie St. Goddard; and Oliver Pease of the Crow Reservation. Both Schwinden and Cregg passed along "Treaty Day" proclamations from their respective jurisdictions.
Also present, but declining to speak due to the nearness of the dinner hour, Therriault said, were: Louis Clayborn of the Montana Indian Affairs Office in Helena; Domnick Curley, Coeur d' Alene Tribal Council (Idaho); Floyd Williams, Upper Skagget Tribe (Washington); Raybun Abrahamson of the Idaho Kootenai Band; and Roland Kennerly, Lane Kennedy, Ted Williamson, and Bernard St. Goddard, all from
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FY-88 budget hearing set for July 31
A public hearing to discuss fiscal year 1988's proposed Tribal budget has been set for Friday, July 31, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Tribal headquarters in Pablo in the Council chambers.
The FY-88 proposed budget is $4,631,731 plus $20,000 in federal revenue-sharing funds, to be spent like so:
TRIBAL ADMINISTRATION OPERATIONS: $1,712,416
COMMUNITY SERVICES: $1,297,315 plus the revenue-sharing money
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: $1,100,000
CAPITAL PROGRAMS & EXPENSES: $522,000
Copies of the proposed budget and background infor-mation are available at Tribal headquarters on weekdays during business hours.